Sofa sleeper with seat height adjustment

ABSTRACT

A sofa sleeper of the type in which three pivotally interconnected bed sections are mounted on linkage means including front support arms at the ends of a rectangular sofa frame on which the bed sections swing between a sofa position within the frame and an intermediate position above and extending forwardly of the frame with one of the bed sections providing a seat deck in sofa position, a stabilizing cross bar on the front support arms which supports the forward end of the bed sections in sofa position, said cross bar being movable to adjust the pitch of the seat deck.

United States Patent 1151 3,694,828 Mikos et al. 45 Oct, 3, 1972 [5 SOFA SLEEPER WITH SEAT HEIGHT 3,525,106 8/1970 Perry ..5/l3

ADJUSTMENT Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg [72] Inventors: Aloysius J. Mlkos, Skokte; Theodore Dhlgostinski, Elmhurst. both of 111. 3235 mfgren' wegm" Allen' Steuma" [73] Assignee: The Seng Company [22] Filed: Oct. 1, I971 [57] ABSTRACT A sofa sleeper of the type in which three pivotally inlzl] Appl' 185524 terconnected bed sections are mounted on linkage means including front support arms at the ends of a [521 U.S. c1 ..5/13, 5/29 rectangular Sofa frame on which the bed Sections 51 1m. (:1 ..A47c 17/14 Swing between a sofa 1905ition Within the frame and [58] Field of Search ..5/13 28 intermediate Position and extending forwardly of the frame with one of the bed sections providing a [56] Reterenm Cited seat deck in sofa position, a stabilizing cross bar on the front support arms which supports the forward end UNITED STATES PATENTS of the bed sections in sofa position, said cross bar 3,281,870 11/1966 Kw ..5/13 being movable to adjust the pitch of the seat deck 3,516,096 6/1970 Mikos ..5/1 3 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENTEU N 3 l9?! SHEEY 1 0F 2 FIGJ IN VE N T098 AL 0 YSIUS J. MIKOS T E 0 0L UGOSINSK I PATENTEDUCI 3 m2 SHEET 2 0f 2 SOFA SLEEPER WITH SEAT HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION the pivotally interconnected bed sections are mounted 0 in the sofa frame on a support linkage including pivoted arms, the height of the sofa seat and its front to rear pitch depend very heavily upon the construction of the supporting linkage because the folded bed sections must be a certain minimum distance above the floor in order to have sufficient clearance to swing out of the frame to the intermediate position from which they are unfolded to bed position.

With one exception, all manufacturers of sofa sleepers are either furniture manufacturers or bedding manufacturers who buy folding bed structures from companies which specialize in the supply of such mechanisms to the furniture industry and mount the prefabricated bed structures in their sofa frames. In view of the complexities of the folding bed mechanisms, and the extremely competitive nature of the entire business, it is not practical for the manufacturers of sofa sleeper mechanisms to custom build such mechanisms for different furniture or bedding manufacturers; but instead they must be mass produced to a few basic designs which offer the furniture or bedding manufacturer very little opportunity for changing the height of the seat and the pitch of the seat in their sofa sleepers.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive structure which permits the furniture or bedding manufacturer who makes sofa sleepers to change the seat height and the seat pitch for different sofa sleeper models while using a single mass produced folding bed mechanism in all of them.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention constitutes an improvement upon the folding bed structure of Mikos' US. Pat. No. 3,516,096, and in particular relates to the structure illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25 of the drawings of that patent which is, basically, the current commercial structure of the assignee of that patent and the present application.

In accordance with the present invention, brackets on the pivoted front support arms for the folding bed mechanism which provide connections for the counter balancing springs also provide a mounting for a stabilizing cross bar of a type which is commonly used in sofa sleeper constructions to prevent side sway by rigidly connecting the mounting arms to one another. It is also common for such a cross bar to be so positioned that it is beneath the forward portion of the folded bed structure in sofa position and thus provides the support for the front end of the folded bed.

In accordance with the present invention, such a stabilizing cross bar is pivotally mounted on the support ing brackets so that its distance from the pivots of the front support arms on the ends of the sofa frame may be varied and thereby adjust the height of the front of the folded bed mechanism and the pitch of the seat deck.

The height of the mounting brackets for the folding bed structure in the ends of the rectangular sofa frame may be varied slightly to change the height of the seat, and generally speaking a lower seat requires less pitch from front to rear so that where the manufacturer of the sofa sleeper wishes to provide a minimum seat height he also may provide a minimum seat pitch by a proper positioning of the adjustable cross bar. Conversely, where a higher seat is provided the pitch may be increased by raising the adjustable cross bar.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view of a sofa frame and a folding bed structure embodying the invention, with the bed structure in its sofa position;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the folding bed structure of FIG. 1 showing the supporting linkage, the main bed frame and the head bed section in the positions that they occupy either in intermediate position or in bed position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of FIG. 1 on a greatly enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a broken longitudinal sectional view taken substantially as indicated along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As previously indicated, the present invention constitutes an improvement upon the apparatus of US. Pat. No. 3,5l6,096, and the folding bed mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is the same as that illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25 of that patent except for the specific improvements effected by the present invention. In FIG. I a sofa frame, indicated generally at 10, includes a rectangular base frame, indicated generally at 10, includes a rectangular base frame, indicated generally at 11, which has a rear rail 12, a front rail 13 and end rails such as the illustrated rail 14, all supported upon legs 15; and in addition the sofa frame includes arm frames 17 and a back frame 18.

The folding bed structure, indicated generally at 20, has identical mechanisms at both ends of the sofa frame, only one of which is shown. A mounting plate 21 is bolted to the sofa frame end rail 14, and a supporting and actuating linkage, indicated generally at 22 includes a rear support arm 23 which is pivoted at 24 on the mounting plate 21, and a front support arm 25 which is pivoted at 26 on the mounting plate 21. Forward link means 27 including a bell crank 28 is pivoted at 29 on a main bed section 30, and has a pivotal connection 31 to the top of the front support arm 25 so as to provide pivotal connecting means between said front support arm and the main bed section. The folding bed structure also includes an intermediate bed section 32 which is pivotally connected to the main bed section at 33, and an outer bed section 34 which is pivoted to the intermediate bed section at 35. In the folded sofa position of FIG. 1 the outer bed section 34 overlies the main bed section 30 and the intermediate bed section 32 is upright immediately inside the front rail 13 of the sofa frame. The folding bed structure also includes a head bed section 36 which is pivoted at 37 on the rear of the main bed section 30 so as to be suspended therefrom in cantilever fashion in the position of FIG. 2; and a head bed section actuating and control linkage, indicated generally at 38, produces the folding and unfolding of the head bed section 36 as the folding bed structure is moved between the sofa position illustrated in FIG. 1 and an intermediate position illustrated in FIG. 2 in which the bed sections 30, 32 and 34 occupy the same relative positions that they do in FIG. I but are positioned above and project forwardly from the front rail 13 of the sofa frame. A folding intermediate leg 39 is mounted on the pivot 33 and is unfolded during the movement from sofa position to intermediate position.

The intermediate position of the folding bed is illustrated in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,5l6,096, and from that position the intermediate bed section 32 and the outer bed section 34 may be further moved to a bed position as illustrated in FIG. 5 of the drawings of that patent. The mechanism as heretofore described is that of FIGS. 24 and 25 of the patent.

The improvement of the present invention comprises a bracket 40 which is riveted to the front support arm 25 and is one of a pair of such brackets which are parallel to one another and occupy positions extending generally rearwardly in the intermediate position of FIG. 2 and generally downwardly in the sofa position of FIG. I. Holes 41 in the brackets 40 provide connections for counterbalancing springs (not shown) in the usual way.

A pair of loose rivets 42 provide pivotal connections for parallel mounting arms 43 of a stabilizer bar 44 which is seen in FIGS. 1 and 3 to underlie the folded intermediate legs 39 in sofa position so as to support the front of the main frame and thus support the front of the folding bed structure in that position. It is apparent, therefore, that by shifting the horizontal plane of the stabilizer bar 44 with respect to the horizontal plane of the front arm mounting pivots 26 in sofa position the height of the front of the folded bed structure from the floor may be adjusted, and this adjusts the pitch of the seat deck which is carried in the outer bed section 34. For details of a preferred seat deck construction reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,082, which issued on an application that was divided out of application No. 555,599, the original ancestor of application 834,201 that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 3,5 [6,096.

Adjustment of the stabilizer bar 44 is permitted by pivoting the arms 43 about their pivots 42, and the bar 44 may be fixed in any of four adjusted positions by reason of a series of holes 45 in each of the brackets 40 which are equidistant from the pivots 42. A hole 46 in each of the mounting arms 43 may be selectively aligned with any one of the series of holes 45, and pin means in the form of bolts 47 impale the aligned holes 45 and 46 and are secured with nuts 48.

As most clearly seen in FIG. 3, the stabilizer bar 44 is illustrated in its lowermost position, and the broken line showing of the mounting arms 43 and stabilizer bar 44 shows the bar in one of its more elevated positions.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a sofa sleeper which has pivotally interconnected main intermediate and outer bed sections, and linkage means including a pair of front support arms which are pivotal mounted on the ends of a rectang lar so a rame or movement between a genera y horizontal position and a generally upright position, and said arms being pivotally connected to the front portion of the main bed section to swing the bed sections during said movement between a sofa position within the frame and an intermediate position above and extending forwardly of the frame, in both of which positions the main section is lowermost, the outer section is inverted over the main section to provide a seat deck, and the intermediate section is upright at the front, means for varying the angle of said bed sections to the horizontal in sofa position to adjust the pitch of the seat deck, said means comprising, in combination:

a pair of parallel brackets on the front support arms,

said brackets extending generally rearwardly in intermediate position and extending generally downwardly in sofa position;

a stabilizer bar mounted on said brackets, said bar in sofa position supporting the front portion of the main bed section;

and adjusting means interconnecting said bar and said brackets to vary the distance between a horizontal plane through the bar and a horizontal plane through the pivotal mountings of said arms.

2. The combination of claim I in which the adjusting means comprises integral parallel arms at the two ends of the bar, coaxial pivots connecting said arms to the brackets, and means for securing the arms to the brackets selectively in any of a plurality of positions.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which the securing means includes a series of holes in each bracket equidistant from the arm pivots, a locking hole in each arm which may be selectively aligned with any of the series of holes in the associated bracket, and pin means to impale said aligned holes.

4. The combination of claim 3 in which the arms are connected to the coaxial pivots intermediate their ends, the stabilizer bar is at one end of the arms and the locking holes are at the other ends of the arms. 

1. In a sofa sleeper which has pivotally interconnected main intermediate and outer bed sections, and linkage means including a pair of front support arms which are pivotally mounted on the ends of a rectangular sofa frame for movement between a generally horizontal position and a generally upright position, and said arms being pivotally connected to the front portion of the main bed section to swing the bed sections during said movement between a sofa position within the frame and an intermediate position above and extending forwardly of the frame, in both of which positions the main section is lowermost, the outer section is inverted over the main section to provide a seat deck, and the intermediate section is upright at the front, means for varying the angle of said bed sections to the horizontal in sofa position to adjust the pitch of the seat deck, said means comprising, in combination: a pair of parallel brackets on the front support arms, said brackets extending generally rearwardly in intermediate position and extending generally downwardly in sofa position; a stabilizer bar mounted on said brackets, said bar in sofa position supporting the front portion of the main bed section; and adjusting means interconnecting saId bar and said brackets to vary the distance between a horizontal plane through the bar and a horizontal plane through the pivotal mountings of said arms.
 2. The combination of claim 1 in which the adjusting means comprises integral parallel arms at the two ends of the bar, coaxial pivots connecting said arms to the brackets, and means for securing the arms to the brackets selectively in any of a plurality of positions.
 3. The combination of claim 2 in which the securing means includes a series of holes in each bracket equidistant from the arm pivots, a locking hole in each arm which may be selectively aligned with any of the series of holes in the associated bracket, and pin means to impale said aligned holes.
 4. The combination of claim 3 in which the arms are connected to the coaxial pivots intermediate their ends, the stabilizer bar is at one end of the arms and the locking holes are at the other ends of the arms. 